Market Recap - Stocks Fall, New Highs - Dividends, Emerging Markets

Stocks Drop

All three major equity indices close in the red today, but to varying degrees. The Dow was the leader, only giving back 14 points of 0.1%, as the index remains within 38 points of the psychological number of 13,000. The S&P 500 lost 0.4% to 1364 and the NASDAQ took the brunt of the hit with a loss of 0.9% to 2950. The NASDAQ was hurt by a drop of 2.2% in Apple ($AAPL) and the index is now 50 points of the high of 3000 it hit last week.

The charts of all three indices remain in a bullish trend and even if more selling occurs in the next week or two, they should be considered normal pullbacks. If I am correct, I look for the pullbacks to be the next buying opportunity for investors wanting to move more money off the sidelines and into the market.

** We have been fine-tuning our WishList of stocks and ETFs are welcome a healthy pullback for more attractive entry levels.

New Highs

Look at the ETFs/Stocks below and you will see a clear connection between all of them!

iShares High Dividend Equity ETF ($HDV) - A basket stocks heavy in the consumer staples, utilities, health care sectors; 3.7% yield.

PowerShares Emerging Market Sovereign Debt ETF ($PCY) - A basket of debt of emerging market governments; 5.4% yield.

Philip Morris International ($PM) - Tobacco/cigaretter company that distributes their products outside the US; 3.6% yield.

SPDRs Consumer Staples ETF ($XLP) - Basket of defensive stocks such as $PM and Wal-Mart ($WMT); 2.8% yield.

Mattel ($MAT) - Toy-maker that is a value play and has a 3.8% yield.

CPFL Energia ($CPL) - Brazilian utility company with a 5.1% yield.

** PFG owns shares of all above stocks/ETFs for clients.

Emerging Markets

The iShares Emerging Markets ETF ($EEM) fell by 1.7% today after China lowered its GDP estimate down to 7.5% from 8.0%. I continue to favor the emerging markets for a portion of my portfolio, however there are better options than $EEM. One of our positions, the EG Shares Emerging Markets High Income Low Beta ETF ($HILO) only lost 0.7% today and pays an above-average dividend yield. There is also the EG Shares Emerging Market Consumer ETF ($ECON) that lost 0.9%.

Investors that are able to identify the "niche" ETFs in the sectors they are attempting to invest in can often times outperform with little to no extra risk. This is one of those scenarios as we own both $HILO and $ECON for out clients.